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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > War fiction > Second World War fiction
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Early Light
(Hardcover)
Osamu Dazai; Translated by Donald Keene, Ralph McCarthy
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R382
Discovery Miles 3 820
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Early Light offers three very different aspects of Osamu Dazai's
genius: the title story relates his misadventures as a drinker and
a family man in the terrible fire bombings of Tokyo at the end of
WWII. Having lost their own home, he and his wife flee with a new
baby boy and their little girl to relatives in Kofu, only to be
bombed out anew. "Everything's gone," the father explains to his
daughter: "Mr. Rabbit, our shoes, the Ogigari house, the Chino
house, they all burned up," "Yeah, they all burned up," she said,
still smiling. "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji," another
autobiographical tale, is much more comic: Dazai finds himself
unable to escape the famous views, the beauty once immortalized by
Hokusai and now reduced to a cliche. In the end, young girls
torment him by pressing him into taking their photo before the
famous peak: "Goodbye," he hisses through his teeth, "Mount Fuji.
Thanks for everything. Click." And the final story is "Villon's
Wife," a small masterpiece, which relates the awakening to power of
a drunkard's wife. She transforms herself into a woman not to be
defeated by anything, not by her husband being a thief, a
megalomaniacal writer, and a wastrel. Single-handedly, she saves
the day by concluding that "There's nothing wrong with being a
monster, is there? As long as we can stay alive."
For readers of Schindler's List, The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas comes a heart-breaking story of the very best of humanity in the very worst of circumstances.
In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival - scratching numbers into his fellow victims' arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale - a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer - it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did, too.
So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the true love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz.
In the summer of 1940, the Battle of Britain rages in the skies
over southern England. Nineteen-year-old Pilot Officer Peter
Stuyckes arrives at RAF Westhill and is immediately put to the
test. Based on the author's own service as an RAF Flight
Engineer,Squadron Airborne takes place over one unforgettable week
that summer, depicting with intensity and brilliance the work of
the many ground-crew and other staff as they support the Few in
their fight against the Luftwaffe. The novel is published to
commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in
September 2020.
NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING TOM HANKS Discover the acclaimed wartime
classic from C. S. Forester - originally published as The Good
Shepherd 'Unbelievably good' James Holland, bestselling author of
Normandy '44 It's 1942. America has just joined the war. Greyhound,
an international convoy of thirty-seven allied ships, is in
operation. Captain Krause must lead his first command of a US
destroyer as the convoy ploughs through the icy, submarine-infested
North Atlantic seas. For forty-eight hours, Krause will play a
desperate cat and mouse game against the wolf packs of German
U-boats. His mission looks doomed to fail. But armed with
extraordinary courage and grit, hope may just be on the horizon. .
. This is a riveting classic of naval warfare from the author of
the legendary Hornblower series. 'High and glittering excitement'
New York Times
Papa always told us that to be brave doesn't mean you have no fear.
It just means you can move forwards in spite of that fear. 2019.
When Imogen Wren's husband dies, she must realise their dream of
moving to France on her own. She finds a beautiful abandoned
chateau and starts to rebuild her life among its ruins. But she
soon notices that the locals won't come near. A dark web of secrets
surrounds the house, and it all seems to centre on the war... 1944.
Since the moment German troops stepped foot in her village, the
sole aim of Simone Varon's life has been to avoid them. Until one
soldier begins leaving medicine bottles for her sick brother, and
she gets to know the man behind the uniform. Then the Resistance
comes calling, and she must choose between love and duty - with
devastating consequences that will echo through the decades. As
Imogen restores the chateau, she's determined to uncover the truth
- and set to rest the ghosts of the past. A beautiful and
devastating dual timeline novel that spans from occupied France in
World War Two, to the war-ravaged chateau in 2019. Perfect for fans
of Gill Paul, Lucinda Riley and Lorna Cook. Reader love All That We
Have Lost! 'Will truly sweep you away... I could really imagine the
characters. A standout novel and Suzanne Fortin's best yet!'
NetGalley reviewer, 'It will crush you then revive you... Absolute
stunner of a book! I hope we will be blessed with many more books
by this author' Goodreads reviewer, 'An excellent read! I really
enjoyed the double time eras and the stories of both modern and
WWII kept me enthralled. Such brilliant research and warm
characters that brought the French countryside to life' Anne Marie
Brear, 'Wonderful novel - historical fiction at its best. I really
enjoyed the dual timeline the book drew me in kept me reading late
into the night... Highly recommend' NetGalley reviewer, 'Fabulous
read from beginning to end... Amazing characters who worked so well
together, it really was a story off love and loss in during WW2...
I want to give nothing away only that I highly recommend '
Goodreads reviewer, 'Brilliant dual timeline historical fiction
story... Hard to put down and five stars from me. I highly
recommend' Karen Reads Books, 'A brilliant read... This book had it
all, part romance, part mystery, throw in intrigue and a little
history and you come up with this excellent book... Heartening and
at times heartbreaking story' Goodreads reviewer,
***BEST CRIME BOOKS OF 2021 - THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES*** ***CRIME
BOOK OF THE MONTH - THE TIMES*** 'Savage, beautiful, mesmeric...a
very special book.' CHRIS WHITAKER, AUTHOR OF WE BEGIN AT THE END
'Extraordinary...a career-defining performance.' THE TIMES/SUNDAY
TIMES 'This is crime writing of the highest quality' DAILY MAIL
SOHO, 1935. SERGEANT LEON GEATS' PATCH. A snarling, skull-cracking
misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own
elastic moral code. The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars,
bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found
above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case
as just another young woman who topped herself early. But Geats - a
good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at
bay - knows the dark seams of the city. Working with his former
partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats
obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer - a
decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both
men in ways they could never expect. 'A stirringly ambitious novel
that pairs the scope of James Ellroy's LA CONFIDENTIAL with the
psychological depth of Graham Greene's BRIGHTON ROCK.
Extraordinary.' A. J. FINN 'A tour de force. A brilliant marriage
of tension and rich detail.' HARRIET TYCE 'An epic, brutal,
blockbuster of a crime novel. It's the best film noir you've never
seen complete with a love story that might just rip your heart
out.' TREVOR WOOD 'An enthralling tale that takes you into the
seamy heart of Soho's past. Written in Nolan's visceral, muscular
prose, it is a joy to read.' LESLEY KARA 'A rich, ambitious,
masterpiece of a crime novel' OLIVIA KIERNAN 'Poetic and
tragic...but also vibrant, with a great depth of world and
character' JAMES DELARGY Praise for Dominic Nolan: 'Nolan is set to
become Britain's Michael Connelly' DAILY MAIL 'This powerhouse
novel is not for the fragile-hearted...one hell of a debut' HEAT 'A
smart, distinctive debut' SUNDAY MIRROR
It is 1943, and a month into their service as Land Girls, Bee, Anne
and Pauline are dispatched to a remote farm in rural Scotland. Here
they are introduced to the realities of 'lending a hand on the
land', as back-breaking work and inhospitable weather mean they
struggle to keep their spirits high. Soon one of the girls falters,
and Bee and Pauline receive a new posting to a Northumberland dairy
farm. Detailing their friendship, daily struggles and romantic
intrigues with a lightness of touch, Barbara Whitton's
autobiographical novel paints a sometimes funny, sometimes bleak
picture of time spent in the Women's Land Army during the Second
World War.
Poland, 1941. After the Jews in their town are rounded up, Róza and her
five-year-old daughter, Shira, spend day and night hidden in a farmer's
barn.
Forbidden from making a sound, only the yellow bird from her mother's
stories can sing the melodies Shira composes in her head.
Róza does all she can to take care of Shira and shield her from the
horrors of the outside world. They play silent games and invent their
own sign language. But then the day comes when their haven is no longer
safe, and Róza must face an impossible choice: whether the best thing
she can do for her daughter is keep her close by her side, or give her
the chance to survive by letting her go…
The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner is a powerfully gripping and
deeply moving novel about the unbreakable bond between parent and child
and the triumph of humanity and hope in even the darkest circumstances.
Go on patrol with Major Eazy, the laid-back British officer who
always completes his mission! Before Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog
for 2000 AD, comic maestro Carlos Ezquerra created an iconic star
character of bestselling British war comic, Battle. Now, collected
in order for the first time, Rebellion is proud to present all of
Major Eazy's adventures remastered and from the beginning. From
pulse-pounding invasion of Sicily to the German surrender at
Brenner Pass, Major Eazy Volume 1 collects all of the character's
adventures across the Italian arena of war.
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Count Luna
(Paperback)
Alexander Lernet-Holenia; Translated by Jane B. Greene
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R375
Discovery Miles 3 750
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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At the start of WWII, Alexander Jessiersky, an Austrian aristocrat,
heads a great Viennese shipping company. He detests the Nazis, and
when his board of directors asks him to go along with confiscating
a neighbor's large parcel of land for their thriving wartime
business, Jessiersky refuses. Yet, without his knowledge, the board
succeeds in sending the owner of the land, a certain Count Luna, to
a Nazi concentration camp on a trumped-up charge. Years later the
war is over, but after a series of mysterious events, Jessiersky,
deeply paranoid, becomes convinced that Count Luna has survived and
seeks vengeance; driven to kill the source of his dread, he decides
to hunt down Luna-and his years-long chase after the spectral count
finally takes him deep into the catacombs of Rome... The nightmare
logic of Count Luna comes from deep within Jessiersky's festering
fears and serves up his brooding, insanity-spiced, delicious
disquisitions-on what the Etruscans knew, on cemeteries as
originally "sleeping places"-before coming at last to death itself:
"Well, well, well, thought Jessiersky, swallowing hard. So you do
die after all. You refuse to believe that someday you will die but
then you die. And you don't even notice it. And yet the fact that
you don't is the best thing about dying..."
As the war rages on, can they be there for each other? Spring 1940
As the war rages on, Vickers steelworks is busier than ever which
is proving tough for Nancy as she juggles working long hours and
looking after two young children, all while waiting for her husband
to return home safely. Betty is determined to roll up her sleeves
and joins the Women's Voluntary Service to keep busy and stop from
fretting about her fiance. But Patty is left worrying about someone
closer to home. Sweetheart Archie has been keeping a secret from
her, and one that puts him in great danger. Will it threaten to
pull them apart for good? And with life at war tougher than ever,
can the factory sisters rally together to find a way through? ***
Readers love The Steel Girls series: 'A gentle story with an
undercurrent of pure grit' 'Heart-warming and magical' 'Very well
researched and a superb addition to the saga genre' 'Every single
character becomes your friend' 'The love leaps from the pages' 'An
inspiring, emotional, authentic, heart-warming and gorgeously
written saga' 'A story of friendship, camaraderie, and just getting
on with it'
A historical adventure chronicling the exploits of the Special Boat
Squadron, the seaborne raiders who, by strength and guile, carried
out World War Two's most daring covert operations. From this moment
on, you and your men, you don't exist. Formed in the darkest hours
of the Second World War, as nation after nation fell before the
unstoppable Axis advance, the task of the SBS was to strike back at
an enemy no army could meet in the field. Trained in sabotage and
surveillance, the Special Boat Squadron raided deep behind enemy
lines, sowing chaos and capturing much-needed intelligence.
Soldiers, adventurers and rogues, their methods were unorthodox,
their success rate unprecedented. Operation Anglo, 31 August 1942.
Beneath the waves of the Mediterranean, HMS Traveller closes in on
the coast of Rhodes. Aboard, eight SBS commandos check their
weapons as they prepare to infiltrate and sabotage two Axis bomber
fields. Only two of the eight commandos will make it back to alive.
Ex-Black Watch Sgt Jim Hunter will be one of the lucky ones, but
what he will face next will make Operation Anglo look like a
cakewalk. Reviewers on Iain Gale: 'A fast fit fighting yarn that
transports you to the deadly hillsides of wartime Crete.' Quentin
Letts on SBS 'A powerful novel of men at war. A triumph.' Bernard
Cornwell on Four Days in June 'Very exciting.' Daily Telegraph on
the Jack Steele series
Based on the heart-breaking true story of Cilka Klein, Cilka's Journey is a million copy international bestseller and the sequel to the No.1 bestselling phenomenon, The Tattooist of Auschwitz
In 1942 Cilka Klein is just sixteen years old when she is taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, notices her long beautiful hair, and forces her separation from the other women prisoners. Cilka learns quickly that power, even unwillingly given, equals survival.
After liberation, Cilka is charged as a collaborator by the Russians and sent to a desolate, brutal prison camp in Siberia known as Vorkuta, inside the Arctic Circle.
Innocent, imprisoned once again, Cilka faces challenges both new and horribly familiar, each day a battle for survival. Cilka befriends a woman doctor, and learns to nurse the ill in the camp, struggling to care for them under unimaginable conditions. And when she tends to a man called Alexandr, Cilka finds that despite everything, there is room in her heart for love.
Cilka's Journey is a powerful testament to the triumph of the human will. It will move you to tears, but it will also leave you astonished and uplifted by one woman's fierce determination to survive, against all odds.
Don't miss Heather Morris's next book, Stories of Hope. Out now.
'A searing portrait of the Nazi elite as the war turns against
them. Raw, shocking and meticulously researched' TIM
SEBASTIANBerlin, 1942. For four years, the men in field grey have
helped themselves to country after country across Western Europe.
For Werner Nehmann, a journalist at the Promi - the Ministry of
Propaganda - this dizzying series of victories has felt like a
party without end. But now the Reich's attention has turned towards
the East, and as winter sets in, the mood is turning. Werner's
boss, Joseph Goebbels, can sense it. A small man with a powerful
voice and coal-black eyes, Goebbels has a deep understanding the
dark arts of manipulation. His words, his newsreels, have shaken
Germany awake, propelling it towards its greater destiny and he
won't let - he can't let - morale falter now. But the Minister of
Propaganda is uneasy and in his discomfort has pulled Werner into
his close confidence. And here, amid the power struggle between the
Nazi Chieftains, Werner will make his mistake and begin his descent
into the hell of Stalingrad...
Will the coming war divide them . . . ? For as long as she can
remember Peggy O'Shea has been expected to work at the family
dairy, look after her younger siblings, and eventually marry
cow-keeper Martin Gallagher. And that's the way it has predictably
gone, apart from one glorious summer when, at the age of eight, she
meets handsome Anthony Giardano. But there's bad blood between the
Irish O'Sheas and the Italian Giardanos, so perhaps for the sake of
both of their families, it's a good thing when Anthony suddenly
disappears. Ten years later at the start of the war, Peggy bumps
into Anthony again. But as they begin to rekindle their friendship,
Italy joins forces with Germany and Liverpool turns on its Italian
residents overnight, making any relationship between Peggy and
Anthony impossible . . . A gritty World War Two historical saga
from Elizabeth Morton the acclaimed author of Angel of Liverpool.
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